Global Change & Extinction in the Ocean: A Paleontological Perspective

W/ special guest

Dr. Seth Finnegan

University of California  Museum of Paleontology

You can’t understand where the ocean is going without understanding where it’s been.

For more than half a billion years, the ocean has been changing—and marine life has been changing with it. Species have appeared and disappeared. The ocean has warmed and cooled. Chemistry, climate, coastlines, and ecosystems have been transformed, sometimes gradually and sometimes with startling speed.

The fossil record holds the evidence.

This month at Ocean Hoptimism, we’re taking the long view to discover what Earth’s ancient ocean can teach us about the future of our own.

The good news? Life is remarkably resilient.

That doesn’t mean every species or ecosystem survives every change. Far from it. The fossil record shows us that major environmental shifts can have profound consequences for life in the sea. But it also shows something hopeful: life adapts, ecosystems evolve, and the ocean has a tremendous capacity for renewal.

We’re delighted to welcome Dr. Seth Finnegan, Professor of Paleobiology and the Virginia G. and Robert E. Gill Chair in Natural History in UC Berkeley’s Department of Integrative Biology, and Curator at the UC Museum of Paleontology, for an evening exploring Global Change and Extinction in the Oceans: A Paleontological Perspective.

Seth and his students study the fossil record of marine life—from the first multicellular animals more than 500 million years ago to the traces of organisms accumulating in ocean sediments today. By looking across this extraordinary span of time, they’re uncovering how changes in Earth’s physical environment have shaped marine biodiversity—and what those lessons might mean for the ocean we’re trying to protect today.

Because when we’re trying to imagine the ocean’s future, the past is one of our best guides.

“Life in the oceans is ever-changing, and has survived worse things than us.”
— Dr. Seth Finnegan

Join us on Thursday, September 24, at 7:00 p.m. at Faction Brewing in Alameda for an evening of deep time, ocean life, extinction, resilience, and what the fossil record can tell us about the future.

Bring a friend. Bring your curiosity.

Because the ocean has been writing its story for more than 500 million years—and there’s still time to help shape the next chapter.